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文/A.A.米尔恩
一年四季的水果， 我最喜欢柑橘。
首先，柑橘四季常有——即使树已凋零，水果店里也有它的身影。有些时候，几块巧克力加上一点蜜饯生姜充当餐后的甜点，或是两块李子干配上一片大黄油便被冠以蔬果什锦美名，这时，稍带酸味的柑橘便来到你的身边。在水果当令期，樱桃、草莓、木梅、酸栗在餐桌上争奇斗艳时，也比不过那带有着甜味的柑橘。即使日常生活的面包和黄油，牛肉和羊肉，鸡蛋和咸肉，也都未必像柑橘那样不可或缺。
柑橘最普通，然而又最奇妙。论其优点，难尽其详。比如说，柑橘有益健康，可以治流感、养皮肤。柑橘干净卫生，谁也只触到它的表皮，吃完以后便丢在餐厅。柑橘圆光滑亮，是孩子们最好的伙伴。
然而，最美不过的，还是柑橘的甜美可口。我简直不敢多谈它的美味，我只能被它的美味所倾倒。每一个婚礼都使我感到痛惜，因为它意味着一束鲜橘花——未来金色果实的夭折。
……
我们年复一年地吃着柑橘，这本身就证明了柑橘的好处。事实上，正是柑橘诚实的品格令我们所有的人羡慕不已。如果它要变坏的话——其实我们之中最优秀者有时也会变坏——它是从外表而不是从内里开始的。不知有多少梨子，在向人们展示容光焕发的笑容时，内里已经腐烂。又有多少看上去纯洁无瑕的苹果，刚刚发芽就已经包藏蛀虫。而柑橘从不隐藏瑕疵。它的外表就是内心的写照。假如你反映快，不等售货员把坏橘子偷偷放进纸袋儿，你就能把它挑出来。
Of the fruits of the year I give my vote o the orange.
In the first place it is a perennial-if not in actual fact, at least in the greengrocer＇s shop. On the days when dessert is a name given to a handful of chocolates and a little preserved ginger, when macedoine de fruits is the title bestowed on two prunes and a piece of rhubarbs, then the orange, however sour, comes nobly to the rescue; and on those other days of plenty when cherries and strawberries and raspberries and gooseberries riot together upon the table, the orange, sweeter than ever, is still there to hold its own. Bread and butter, beef and mutton, eggs and bacon, are not more necessary to an ordered existence than the orange.
It is well that the commonest fruit should be also the best. Of the virtues of the orange I have not room fully to speak. It has properties of health giving, as that it cures influenza and establishes the complexion. It is clean, for whoever handles it on its way to your table, but handles its outer covering, its top coat, which is left in the hall. It is round, and forms an excellent substitute with the young for a cricket ball. The pip can be flicked at your enemies, and quite a small piece of peel makes a slide for an old gentleman.
But all this would count nothing had not the orange such delightful qualities of taste. I dare not let myself go upon this subject. I am a slave to its sweetness. I grudge every marriage in that it means a fresh supply of orange blossom, the promise of so much golden fruit short, the world must go on.
...
With the orange we do live year in and year out. That speaks well for the orange. The fact is that there is a honesty about the orange which appears to all of us. If it is going to be bad-for the best of us are bad sometimes-it begins to be bad from the outside, not from the inside. How many a pear which presents a blooming face to the world is rotten at the core. How many an innocent-looking apple is harboring a worm in the bud. But the orange has no secret faults. Its outside is a mirror of its inside, and if you are quick you can tell the shopman so before he slips it into the bag.
一年四季的水果， 我最喜欢柑橘。
首先，柑橘四季常有——即使树已凋零，水果店里也有它的身影。有些时候，几块巧克力加上一点蜜饯生姜充当餐后的甜点，或是两块李子干配上一片大黄油便被冠以蔬果什锦美名，这时，稍带酸味的柑橘便来到你的身边。在水果当令期，樱桃、草莓、木梅、酸栗在餐桌上争奇斗艳时，也比不过那带有着甜味的柑橘。即使日常生活的面包和黄油，牛肉和羊肉，鸡蛋和咸肉，也都未必像柑橘那样不可或缺。
柑橘最普通，然而又最奇妙。论其优点，难尽其详。比如说，柑橘有益健康，可以治流感、养皮肤。柑橘干净卫生，谁也只触到它的表皮，吃完以后便丢在餐厅。柑橘圆光滑亮，是孩子们最好的伙伴。
然而，最美不过的，还是柑橘的甜美可口。我简直不敢多谈它的美味，我只能被它的美味所倾倒。每一个婚礼都使我感到痛惜，因为它意味着一束鲜橘花——未来金色果实的夭折。
……
我们年复一年地吃着柑橘，这本身就证明了柑橘的好处。事实上，正是柑橘诚实的品格令我们所有的人羡慕不已。如果它要变坏的话——其实我们之中最优秀者有时也会变坏——它是从外表而不是从内里开始的。不知有多少梨子，在向人们展示容光焕发的笑容时，内里已经腐烂。又有多少看上去纯洁无瑕的苹果，刚刚发芽就已经包藏蛀虫。而柑橘从不隐藏瑕疵。它的外表就是内心的写照。假如你反映快，不等售货员把坏橘子偷偷放进纸袋儿，你就能把它挑出来。
Of the fruits of the year I give my vote o the orange.
In the first place it is a perennial-if not in actual fact, at least in the greengrocer＇s shop. On the days when dessert is a name given to a handful of chocolates and a little preserved ginger, when macedoine de fruits is the title bestowed on two prunes and a piece of rhubarbs, then the orange, however sour, comes nobly to the rescue; and on those other days of plenty when cherries and strawberries and raspberries and gooseberries riot together upon the table, the orange, sweeter than ever, is still there to hold its own. Bread and butter, beef and mutton, eggs and bacon, are not more necessary to an ordered existence than the orange.
It is well that the commonest fruit should be also the best. Of the virtues of the orange I have not room fully to speak. It has properties of health giving, as that it cures influenza and establishes the complexion. It is clean, for whoever handles it on its way to your table, but handles its outer covering, its top coat, which is left in the hall. It is round, and forms an excellent substitute with the young for a cricket ball. The pip can be flicked at your enemies, and quite a small piece of peel makes a slide for an old gentleman.
But all this would count nothing had not the orange such delightful qualities of taste. I dare not let myself go upon this subject. I am a slave to its sweetness. I grudge every marriage in that it means a fresh supply of orange blossom, the promise of so much golden fruit short, the world must go on.
...
With the orange we do live year in and year out. That speaks well for the orange. The fact is that there is a honesty about the orange which appears to all of us. If it is going to be bad-for the best of us are bad sometimes-it begins to be bad from the outside, not from the inside. How many a pear which presents a blooming face to the world is rotten at the core. How many an innocent-looking apple is harboring a worm in the bud. But the orange has no secret faults. Its outside is a mirror of its inside, and if you are quick you can tell the shopman so before he slips it into the bag.